Was "this review" meant to be a link? More context is certainly in order. "As usual, Gibson's prose is — to use some of his favorite adjectives — corpuscular, crenelated. His sentences slide from silk to steel, and take tonal joy rides from the ironic to the earnest. But he never gets lost in the language, as he sometimes has in the past." Edit: I actually think that's pretty much self-explanatory.
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RegDwigнt♦Dec 22 '10 at 23:53

ah yes my friend did not include the following sentence, which does explain it all!
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ClaudiuDec 22 '10 at 23:59

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I think Ms. Zeidner meant that his language is full of contrasts, changing at sharp angles. At least that is how I interpret this: apparently the metaphor is Ms. Zeidner's own invention. Note that she purposefully uses some favourite words of Gibson's, as you can read in this version of the review:
"As usual, Gibson's prose is -- to use some of his favorite adjectives -- corpuscular, crenelated. His sentences slide from silk to steel, and take tonal joy rides from the ironic to the earnest."
http://www.themodernword.com/pynchon/gibson_review.html